Tonight, there was a gathering of the Solace for the Children host families and some members of Jacksonville’s Islamic community. A conversation and dialogue were lead by Dr. Parvez Ahmed, a faculty member at the University of North Florida, and a popular subject in the local media as of late. Dr. Ahmed was recently appointed by the Mayor of Jacksonville to the city’s Human Rights Commission, but one member of the City Council took issue with Ahmed’s appointment. The controversy fueled significant local debate about the Islamic faith, and in retrospect, was definitely not Jacksonville’s finest hour. Ultimately, reason prevailed, and Dr. Ahmed was seated in his rightful and appropriate place on the Human Rights Commission. Tonight’s event made for a wonderful interfaith dialogue, and there was undoubtedly a certain beauty to the event – a gathering of Christians in one of the city’s predominantly upper-middle class neighborhoods, participating in an interfaith dialogue with members of the Muslim faith, regarding a group of needy children from Afghanistan travelling to Jacksonville in just one week – not something you see every day.
Today, we got the official word that the 16 children and 2 interpreters are due to arrive in Jacksonville next Wednesday (June 2) at 10:15 A.M. All of the host families will be at the airport, to greet the children as they arrive. It’s just a week now – that’s tough to believe. My worries and anxieties about the experience are, admittedly, rather simple… I worry that Sahar and Caroline won’t click, which would be disappointing, since Caroline is so incredibly excited about Sahar’s arrival. I worry about the unknown of just how this new person in the mix will affect our family routine for six weeks. I worry about Sahar’s medical condition…”chronic headaches” can mean so many different things – and, I worry that the headaches might affect her ability to enjoy the Solace experience with our family… The challenge for me – and my goal – will be to allow myself to enjoy the experience, and not allow my experience to be held hostage by simple worries, and premature anxiety about how our family will handle Sahar’s inevitable return to Afghanistan.
My prayer is that this will be a positive, rewarding, eye-opening, and transformative experience for our family – especially our children.
Bryan
This blog chronicles the experience of the Coker family in Jacksonville, Florida, with Solace for the Children, a humanitarian organization of volunteers, committed to demonstrating God's love by providing medical, dental, & optical care to the children of Afghanistan. Our 'Solace' journey began in June 2010, and continues...
Sweet Soman
